"
Boyton had been noticing the clouds since morning; his sailor training
told him it would not be long before rain would fall, so he answered the
Sheriff's appeal with a sly wink at the Colonel, as follows:
"The request of the Sheriff is well. I promise that rain will come
before a great while."
Before they left the house, luckily for Paul, it did begin to rain and
the old man was absolutely bewildered with astonishment, having not the
least doubt that the rain had been called by the American. To this day,
the Moors of Tangier tell the story of how the drought was ended by a
wonderful American who came out of the sea one night.
On returning to the Colonel's house, Boyton was waited on by a
delegation of distinguished Moors; old, white bearded fellows, in
turbans and burnouse. Each of them offered a present of some kind. One
of them brought a beautiful pair of Barbary pheasants, another a young
wild pig in a crate; others, quaint arms, and one had a chameleon of a
rare species, which he carried on the twig of a tree. An address of
welcome to Morocco was read by one of their number and then they asked
Paul he would not kindly walk on the water in the daylight for them as
the soldiers had seen him do when he landed, so that all the people
might behold him.
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